


his smile, too happy

by westernapparel



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 12:00:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18343256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westernapparel/pseuds/westernapparel
Summary: Ben is dead, and his siblings all reflect during his funeral.





	his smile, too happy

When Ben’s funeral is held, Hargreeves doesn’t approve of it.

His test subjects all gather outside in the blinding daylight, playing music and sobbing and all too human if that’s what being a human means. But he knows they need this to continue, to live in the wake of death, so he continues writing.

…

Luther didn’t know Ben would die.

It was always implied in every warning before a mission, protocols they should follow in case a teammate goes rogue, or couldn’t control their powers. Ben always flinched, knowing it was specifically directed toward him, while Klaus was always too out of it to care. In their later years, Ben raised an eyebrow and muttered a snarky comment to Klaus, who muttered something back, Ben had become more himself, instead of the ghost he always used to be. He laughed and ate and yelled and whispered, and most importantly, he was alive, alive, alive. 

The last mission was solely Luther and Ben against an entire army on the other side of the planet, so the tentacles were a must if they were to remain unscathed. (Only Luther did.)

He couldn’t have done anything but what Reginald said— hit him once on his head as the monsters pulled and snapped everything apart, the infrastructure of the building and the people themselves, a tentacle going after Luther himself with pure, unconcealed bloodlust. He had thought it the end, but the interdimensional portal remained and tore everything apart, including Ben himself. Luther didn’t know which arm or brain or intestine was Ben’s, so he brought himself further from the room and waited.

So when he stands at the funeral, Luther talks of a hero’s sacrifice. His mind isn’t there, though. He thinks of Ben starting to live, and consequently dying. He thinks the boy hadn’t lived those decades, but rather, a year, at best. Perhaps he was always a ghost, destined to die.

And if Reginald isn’t bothered, he shouldn’t be either.

Right?

…

Diego is not at the funeral. 

He is spying on a local mafia, laying in dirtied vents he can barely fit into and clinging to chilled catwalks, so he doesn’t know. Reginald certainly didn’t think to inform him.

But when Diego does discover the gruesome fact (courtesy of Allison) he snaps. He doesn’t listen to Hargreeves anymore, speaks against him in every instance and opens his eyes. Everything is in blinding, stunning clarity and he knows.

Diego has to thank Ben for that, and so, a year after his murder, he grins the largest grin he can and stabs through those damned portraits, and gets his tattoo covered, and does anything he fucking wants to because he is free, so very free.

During Ben’s funeral, Diego is not there, but he certainly appreciates it.

…

Allison never knew Ben.

To be fair, she doesn’t know anything about anyone except Luther. She is sharp and manipulative and carries herself higher than Five himself (from what anyone can remember), but not in the blunt way he had. It was subdued, quiet in the way of a whisper no one would expect from her, twisting the academy into the way she wants, and she always gets her way. It starts with a rumor, and it becomes so true it almost hurts.

She herself contributed to Ben’s quietness, the way he held himself, but it is so buried in her mind she can’t remember it, or she doesn’t want to. Hargreeves is a sick bastard, and Allison can see him staring from his window, and she has half a mind to rumor him into dissolving the academy and discarding their entire past, giving them new lives and memories and a past because, with her rumors, she can fabricate entire lives.

But she can’t rumor herself and she knows, from experience, that rumors can only go for so long before she has to cover everything with a nice, neat coat of polish that will degrade faster than anything. 

Either way, Allison is present at the funeral and she fumes because for once, nothing is her way, and she can’t change anything.

…

Klaus is not at the funeral either.

He is off with one too many drugs in his system, high off his ass in an alley and desperately trying to forget, but the image of just blood and gore instead of Ben makes him dry heave again, and for once, the drugs aren’t helping. Everything is spinning, and he’s so cold and warm at the same time.

When Klaus and Ben were growing up, they weren’t close. He was all loud noises that hurt, and Ben was silence that hurt. They bonded over a night (many, so many nights) of food and exploring the city, all the grimy parts they weren’t allowed to see, and became absolutely enamored with the many things they saw. They would become designated mission lookouts, for neither had practical powers either could use. That time was spent at nearby stores, gorging themselves on so much junk food they’d throw up and still high-five each other. The duo would mock each and every person in their family (they couldn’t remember Five), citing their dysfunctionality. Vanya would be included—. They named themselves the ‘unofficial angsters,’ in Klaus’s words. They laughed and they drank and danced and talked, like normal people.

Klaus isn’t there for the funeral, but he is reminiscing.

…

Time is relative.

Vanya has written that in her book, entire pages missing and completely eradicated due to whatever caused the apocalypse. It skips to Ben’s chapter, and his death is implied. It is written like common knowledge, and Five won’t admit it, but it takes some time to realize, and his entire world shatters at once.

But he can’t dwell, he needs to live, if he wants any chance to transport and potentially save Ben and the rest of the world, because that’s surely the priority, right?

Five spends Ben’s funeral not knowing, and for the better.

…

Ben is dead, and it’s the most exhilarating thing he’s ever felt.

He’s finally free, away from the academy and it crushing weight, and even though he’s still on Earth (on a different plane), and he can finally see the dead, it’s the feeling of release that makes him whoop in delight, unheard by anyone but himself. Ben is so free and nothing can stop him. No mission, no fucking siblings, and no Hargreeves. Ben is himself and nothing, absolutely nothing can stop him now.

Death has been the best thing that has ever happened to him. So, when Klaus visits his grave, he sits on it, in his favorite hoodie, the tentacles gone, and smiles the happiest smile he’s ever smiled.

…

Vanya is playing, at the funeral.

She is mourning the loss of her brother, the second that truly understands her. Klaus has gone off into the deep end, and without the voice of reason, the entire family is sure to follow him soon. She thinks of this, but she concentrates on her playing. She’s desperate, for some reason. Vanya can’t feel as much as she knows she would and could. Her notes are discordant and it stresses her. Her composure breaks all at once but she still can’t seem to feel, and everything is so subdued she wants to scream to make it all stop.

Vanya plays, and she knows by the end of this, everyone will die, one way or another. It’s just a matter of time before they’re all gone.

And she’ll go first.

**Author's Note:**

> hope this doesnt flop even tho i wrote it in like ten minutes uwu we stan kudos and comments


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